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ISAAC ALBÉNIZ (1860-1909) Asturias November 2, 2014: Sharon Isbin, guitar Composer and piano virtuoso Isaac Albéniz became one of the most influential figures in Spanish music history, creating a national idiom based on his native folk music. An amazing child prodigy, he was nevertheless such an unruly youth that he ran away from home several times, and by age thirteen he had journeyed to Argentina as a stowaway, and to Uruguay, Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, San Francisco, and back to Spain. He later traveled throughout Europe, composing his most Spanish-sounding pieces when he was away from his native land. In 1903 he moved to Nice, where he composed his most famous works for piano, collected in the Suite Iberia , published in four books between 1906 and 1909. He died in Cambô-les-Bains, Pyrenées, just before his forty-ninth birthday. Albéniz composed mostly for the piano though he wrote several works for the theater, of which Pepita Jiménez and San Antonio de la Flórida achieved a certain success. Many of his colorful piano works have been arranged for a variety of instruments—the present Asturias is more often heard on guitar than on piano, thanks to the popular arrangements by guitarists Andrés Segovia and Francisco Tárrega, among many others. Asturias dates from the early 1890s, probably during the time Albéniz was living in London. It was published as “Preludio” in two different collections before it ended up in the collection of eight pieces that German publisher Hofmeister issued two years after Albéniz’s death. Hofmeister titled the group Suite española , op. 47, after a work that had been advertised in 1886 but had never materialized. No. 5, Asturias , was subtitled “Leyenda” (Legend). One of the many nostalgic pieces he wrote outside of his native land, Asturias evokes the beautiful Asturias region of northwest Spain. Albéniz knowledgeably suggests the flamenco guitar style by using a pedal point on an open string and broken chord figurations. The slower central section imitates the improvisatory style of flamenco singing in which Gypsy, Indian, and Arabic influences are all present. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 AT 5 PM CANDLELIT MUSIC OF THE SPIRIT ANTHONY McGILL, CLARINET STELLA CHEN, VIOLIN NICHOLAS CANELLAKIS, CELLO MICHAEL STEPHE N BROWN, PIANO Anthony McGill , clarinet “Exquisite refinement and expressive radiance” — The Baltimore Sun Stella Chen , violin 1st Prize, 2019 Queen Elizabeth Competition Nicholas Canellakis , cello “Seduced by his rich, alluring tone” — The New YorkTimes Michael Stephen Brown , piano “One of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer -composers.” — The New YorkTimes ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS “Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.” — Ludwig van Beethoven 2023-2024 SEASON October 15, 202 3 Lysander Piano Trio November 12, 2023 Angel Blue, soprano Bryan Wagorn, piano ​ December 3, 2023 Brentano String Quartet Antioch Chamber Choir ​ January 14, 2024 Goldmund String Quartet February 18, 2024 Candlelit Music of The Spirit March 10, 2024 Richard Goode, Piano Late Beethoven ​ April 7, 2024 Jordi Savall, Conductor Hespèrion XXI ​ May 12, 2024 Mothers Day Concert ​ June 2, 2024 Mozart’s Double Concertos Artist Roster Parlance Program Notes LOCATION At West Side Presbyterian Church 6 South Monroe Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450 For map and directions, click here . CONCERT AMENITIES Whee lchair Accessible Fr e e Parking for all concerts FEATURING BUY TICKETS Music has always been a direct pathway to the spirit. In this special candlelit event, four of today’s leading virtuosos will perform spiritually resonant works by Avro Pärt, Max Bruch, Maurice Ravel, Jesse Montgomery, and Olivier Messiaen’s 1941 masterpiece, Quartet for the End of Time. ​ ABOUT MESSIAEN’S QUARTET FOR THE END OF TIME Composed and premiered in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp, Messiaen wrote Quatuor Pour le Fin du Temps for the musicians on hand among his fellow inmates: a clarinetist, violinist, cellist, and himself playing piano. The premiere took place on the bitter cold evening of January 15, 1941, and for many in attendance it was the first time they heard chamber music of any kind. With music of overwhelming originality and power, Messiaen rose above captivity to create a work of soaring spiritual transcendence. PROGRAM Avro Pärt: Fratres for violin and piano Program Notes Coming Soon Max Bruch: Kol Nidre for cello and piano Program Notes Coming Soon Maurice Ravel: The Valley of the Bells for piano Program Notes Coming Soon Jesse Montgomery: Peace for clarinet and piano Program Notes Coming Soon Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time Program Notes Coming Soon Watch Anthony McGill perform an excerpt from Jesse Montgomery’s “Peace” with pianist Gloria Chein: Watch Stella Chen perform Schubert’s Fantasy in C, D.934: Watch Nicholas Canellakis and Michael Brown perform Debussy’s Beau Soir:

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Italian Concerto, BWV 971 March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano A master organizer, Bach planned a monumental keyboard series, which he began publishing in installments in 1731 under the unassuming title Clavier-Übung (Keyboard Exercise). This evening’s Italian Concerto holds an important place in this series of “exercises,” which in fact represents the pinnacle of his art and thus an incomparable peak in the whole of music. The first volume contains his six keyboard partitas; the second (1735), a remarkable pair—the Concerto after the Italian Taste and Ouverture in the French Manner, as Bach called them—representing the two leading national styles and the two main orchestral genres of the day; the third (1739), the organ chorales, the Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major, and the four Duettos; and the fourth (1741), the Goldberg Variations. The Art of Fugue might have constituted Book V, had he lived to see it published. Bach made a careful study of any style he sought to emulate. Not only had he transcribed a number of early concertos by Vivaldi and Marcello as keyboard concertos, but as director of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum he had come to know Vivaldi’s later concertos, as well as further examples by younger German contemporaries writing in the now well-established three-movement format. What is remarkable in Bach’s Italian Concerto is that, though he writes to the “Italian taste,” he makes his own masterful reinterpretation, thus it might better be thought of as the “German-Italian Concerto.” Composer and critic Johann Adolphe Scheibe singled out Bach’s Italian Concerto in 1739 as the best of this solo type—that is, not a transcription of an orchestral concerto, but written for one performer encompassing both “solo” and “orchestra” at one keyboard instrument. He went on to hint at Bach’s ingenious mix of styles when he said: “We can certainly defy foreign nations to provide us with such a piece in this form of composition—a piece which deserves emulation by all our great composers and which will be imitated all in vain by foreigners.” Both outer movements follow the customary Italian ritornello form, standardized by Vivaldi, in which periodic returns of thematic material alternate with contrasting episodes. Both movements also bubble along in the vivacious manner long associated with the Italian style, but they also show later developments in their use of four-bar phrases. Of particular interest in this regard is the existence of an earlier version of the first movement, which Bach “pruned” in several place to make more regular four-bar phrases. The lovely slow movement emulates the Vivaldi style that Bach often adopted—a singing, embellished melody line accompanied simply by a steadily pulsing accompaniment. The piece unfolds in two sections, the second beginning with the same accompaniment progression as the first but with a new highly ornamented melody. Bach’s “German-ness” shows in that all of his Italianate embellishments are carefully written out rather than assumed to be improvised as in Italian practice. The infectious vivacity of the last movement contributes enormously to the popularity that the Italian Concerto has always enjoyed. It took the hand of a master to create something so captivating from such uncomplicated harmonies and the simple idea of an ascending scale. Though similar in form and key scheme to the first movement, the finale shows Bach’s later outlook in the more extensive recall of episodic material. As the movement barrels irrepressibly to its conclusion, one can imagine Bach himself reveling in playing this work, which, as he states on the volume’s title page, was “Composed for Music Lovers, for the Mind’s Delight.” © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

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MAKE A DONATION Parlance Chamber Concerts gratefully accepts fully tax-deductible contributions of any amount. Please make a secure donation through PayPal or with your own credit card among those listed below. ​ With a donation of $100 or more, you will be listed in the Program Booklets For details and questions about joining the Parlance Patrons Circle, please contact Sally Jones at 201-546-6132. Parlance Chamber Concerts, Inc., is a fully-accredited 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extend allowable by law.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, BWV 1048 March 24, 2019: Kristin Lee, violin; Paul Huang, violin; Danbi Um, violin; Pierre Lapointe, viola; Dov Scheindlin, viola; Maurycy Banszek, viola; Edward Arron, cello; Mihai Marica, cello; Joel Noyes, cello; Tim Cobb, bass; Gilles Vonsattel, harpsichord In March 1719, when Bach was in Berlin to collect the new harpsichord made for Cöthen by court instrument maker Michael Mietke, he had occasion to play for Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg. The meeting spurred an invitation from the Margrave for Bach to send him some compositions. The works that he sent probably originated in Weimar even before Bach’s move to Cöthen in 1717, but it took yet another two years for him to complete, compile, and submit his “Six concerts avec plusieurs instruments” (Six concertos with several instruments). He dedicated the 1721 manuscript to the Margrave, saying: As I had a couple of years ago the pleasure of appearing before Your Royal Highness . . . and as I noticed then that Your Highness took some pleasure in the small talents that Heaven has given me for Music, and as in taking leave of Your Royal Highness, Your Highness deigned to honor me with the command to send Your Highness some pieces of my composition: I have then in accordance with Your Highness’s most gracious orders taken the liberty of rendering my most humble duty to Your Royal Highness with the present Concertos, which I have adapted to several instruments. No record exists of the Margrave of Brandenburg ever using the scores, ever sending Bach a fee, or ever thanking him. Legend has it that a lack of acknowledgment may have stemmed from the Margrave’s instrumental resources not matching those of Cöthen or Weimar, thus rendering the pieces unperformable at his establishment. It certainly is true that Bach used unprecedented and different scoring in each of the individual works, treating the collection like an “Art of the Concerto Grosso” and thus was not aiming to match any specific establishment’s resources. The manuscript eventually became the property of the state library in Berlin, remaining unpublished until the Bach revival in the nineteenth century. In 1880 Philipp Spitta, Bach’s famous biographer, coined the term “Brandenburg Concertos,” which has been used ever since for the beloved works. Bach employed the simple yet flexible plan for the concerto grosso developed by Torelli and Corelli and standardized by Vivaldi—a small solo group (concertino) alternating with the full ensemble (ripieno or tutti), typically in three movements: fast slow, fast. The Brandenburg Concertos offer a wide spectrum of innovative instrumental schemes and combinations and a great variety in treatment of form. Nos. 1, 3, and 6 use instrumental forces that are fairly balanced in number, with No. 1 containing some violino piccolo solos and No. 6 featuring two violas. Nos. 2, 4, and 5 contrast a small concertino with a large ripieno throughout, with different instruments featured in each case. Though the Third Brandenburg Concerto is scored only for strings and continuo (bass line instrument and keyboard), the texture is kaleidoscopic, with constant shifts between combinations of instruments. Bach’s love of symmetry is apparent in his balancing of the three groups of strings—violins, violas, and cellos—and the three instrumental parts within each group. It is highly unusual that Bach did not provide a slow movement for this Concerto. In between the two fast movements Bach left a one-measure Adagio consisting of two cadential chords, out of which some keyboard players might have improvised a slow movement. The first movement’s opening three-note gesture provides motivic material for much of the remainder of the movement. The finale adopts the form of a gigue, a traditional dance movement in two-part form—here the second section of the gigue is three times as long as the first. Fast notes in perpetual motion, first presented with one instrumental part imitating the other, drive the movement irresistibly forward. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

PARLANCE CHAMBER CONCERTS’S EXECUTIVE BOARD Warren F. Cooke, Vice President Warren F. Cooke of Ridgewood, New Jersey, practiced law for 38 years with the international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, engaging primarily in domestic and international financial transactions. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of The American Bird Conservancy for ten years until January, 2017, and as Chairman of the Board for the last four years. He is currently a Trustee of The Nature Conservancy, New Jersey, and a member of the Boards of Trustees of Valley Health System and Valley Medical Group. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School. He is passionate about music, and is by avocation a dedicated pianist. Edward Lowenthal, Board Member Mr. Lowenthal brings to our Board years of experience in the development and operation of real estate. Mr. Lowenthal currently serves as Chairman of the Board of American Campus Communities (NYSE: ACC) (a public developer, owner and operator of student housing at the university level), is a Director of Omega Healthcare (NYSE: OHI), an owner of skilled nursing and senior living facilities and serves as Vice Chairman of the Board and as trustee of the Manhattan School of Music. From January 1997 to March 2002, Mr. Lowenthal served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Wellsford Real Properties, Inc. (a real estate merchant bank) and was President of the predecessor of Wellsford Real Properties, Inc. since 1986. He is co-founder of Wellsford Strategic Partners, a private real estate investment company and is non-executive Chairman of Tiburon Lockers, Inc., a private rental locker company. He has a B.A. degree from Case Western Reserve University and a Law Degree from Georgetown University. Michael Parloff, President, Treasurer, Artistic Director As Artistic Director of Parlance Chamber Concerts, Michael Parloff is responsible for planning programs, engaging guest artists, delivering spoken and written program notes and interviews, and setting organizational goals. Mr. Parloff’s longtime experience in the world of classical music includes 30 years as Principal Flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, 25 years as a faculty member of The Manhattan School of Music, and summer faculty positions at such institutions as The Lake Placid Institute, New York Summer Music Festival, Colorado College Music Festival, and The National Orchestral Institute in College Park, Md. Mr. Parloff has recorded extensively and regularly conducts and coaches conservatory woodwind ensembles. Donald W. Reeder, Chairman of the Board Donald W. Reeder is an attorney practicing in Bergen County, New Jersey, concentrating his practice in estate planning, estate administration. He graduated from Wesleyan University, cum laude and with honors, and New York University School of Law where he was a member of the Law Review. Mr. Reeder was admitted to the New York bar in 1971 and the New Jersey bar in 1973. After working in New York City and Bergen County as a corporate and securities attorney, he opened his own practice in Bergen County, New Jersey. He is married to Elizabeth Forbes and is the father of two children. His outside interests include choral singing, hiking and travel. Peter Riemer, Board Member Peter is an independent consulting healthcare actuary, advising employers on healthcare and welfare plan management. Peter holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Tufts University and an M.S. in Mathematics from Northeastern University. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Peter and his wife, Suzanne Taranto, reside in Ridgewood, and have two adult children. In his spare time, Peter enjoys woodworking and photography.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532 December 5, 2021: Paul Jacobs, organ Bach’s astounding proficiency as an organist not only earned him legendary renown in his lifetime but contributed immeasurably to his unique position for posterity as an idolized composer of boundless inventiveness, mind-boggling intellect, and technical wizardry. His more than 250 compositions for organ span his entire lifetime, from his earliest pieces written as a student with his father’s cousin, organist Johann Christoph Bach, to an organ chorale, one of his last pieces, composed when he was nearly blind. Most originated during his employment at the Duke of Weimar’s court, 1708–17, the last period of his long life when he held an actual post as organist. The present Prelude and Fugue in D major is thought to be an early Weimar work from about 1710. This was a time during which he had absorbed influences from German predecessors such as Buxtehude, Böhm, and Pachelbel, as well as Italian masters such as Legrenzi and Corelli, but before he encountered Vivaldi’s works, which brought about a significant style change c. 1713–14. Bach’s early organ works show an impassioned exuberance if a generally less polished harmonic and polyphonic technique. Bach’s organ works can be easily categorized in two groups—those based on chorale melodies and those freely invented, such as toccatas, fantasias, preludes and fugues. The two categories do not separate music intended for church—the vast majority of his organ works—from that for any other purpose such as teaching or recitals, rather, there was considerable crossover. The Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532, is one of those formally varied, exuberant “free” pieces, which unfolds on an especially large scale. The Prelude consists of a brilliant and wide-ranging introduction, a contrapuntal “Alla breve” (two beats to a bar) in Italian style with slowly shifting harmonies, and a slow section that ends with recitative-like passages in preparation for the Fugue. The fugue subject shows Bach’s fascinating inventiveness in shaping something extraordinary out of repetitions and sequences (the same material at a different pitch). He was clearly fascinated by this remarkable subject because he reused it in his Toccata in D major, BWV 912, which may date from around the same time. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Jesus soll mein erstes Wort from Cantata 171 for soprano, violin and continuo April 3, 2016: Ying Fang, soprano; Sean Lee, violin; Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord When Bach took the position of Kantor of the Thomasschule and civic music director in Leipzig in 1723, he set out to compose five cycles of cantatas, roughly sixty per year, for use in the city’s main churches. The two hundred or so that survive represent a remarkable achievement in inventiveness and quality. Bach typically chose his texts from a variety of poets, but in the summer of 1728 Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander), his chief librettist between 1725 and 1742, provided him with a full year’s series of texts. This, the fourth of Bach’s cycles, is often called the “lost” cycle, because only nine survive. Of these, Cantata 171, Gott, wie dein Name, written for New Year’s Day and the Feast of the Circumcision, was most likely first performed on January 1, 1729. The Gospel text for New Year’s Day (Luke 2:21) refers to the naming of Jesus when he was circumcised, so the poet’s expansion of the idea into a multimovement cantata revolves around the importance of his name for the Christian world. In the midst of a large-scale work for chorus, oboes, trumpets, and strings, Bach writes a beautiful, intimate soprano aria with lovely violin obbligato, in which the protagonist says that just as Jesus’ name shall be the first word uttered in the new year, so shall it be the last in the hour of death. Always a judicious recycler, Bach reworked this aria from “Angenehmer Zephyrus” (Pleasant zephyr) from his secular Cantata 205 (1725), where the elaborate violin phrases depicted a gentle zephyr wind. Bach changed the basically though-composed form, albeit with instrumental ritornellos, into a ternary form by keeping the first and middle sections as well as the closing ritornello basically unchanged, but making the third section an artfully modified return of the opening section. © Jane Vial Jaffe Text and Translation Jesus soll mein erstes Wort In dem neuen Jahre heißen. Fort und fort Lacht sein Nam in meinem Munde, Und in meiner letzten Stunde Ist Jesus auch mein letztes Wort. —Picander Jesus should be my first word spoken in the new year. On and on his name laughs in my mouth, and in my last hours Jesus is also my last word. Return to Parlance Program Notes

2023-2024 SEASON COVID-19 Info for Parlance Chamber Concerts attendees: Read more here. BUY TICKETS 2023 – 2024 CONCERTS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2023 AT 4 PM LYSANDER PIANO TRIO ITAMAR ZORMAN, VIOLIN; MICHAEL KATZ, CELLO; LIZA STEPANOVA, PIA NO ​ The extraordinary Lysander Piano Trio will perform a Scandinavian-themed program including music by the great Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg and 19th-century Swedish composer Amanda Maier . The concert will conclude with Sc hubert’s towering Piano Trio in E-flat, Op. 100 , which features the poignant Swedish folk song “Se solen sjunker” (The Sun Is Setting). LEARN MORE “Incredible ensemble, passionate playing, articulate and imaginative ideas, and wide palette of colors.” — The Strad “Soaring, ripely romantic playing…exhilarating panache.” — Washington Post SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2023 AT 4 PM ANGEL BLUE, SOPRANO BRYAN WAGORN, PIANO ​ SONGS, ARIAS, AND SPIRITUALS ​ In recent seasons, Angel Blue has emerged as one of the most beloved sopranos before the public today. The two-time Grammy Award winner has triumphed at the MET as Vio letta in La Traviata , Mimi in La Boheme , Bess in Porgy and Bess , and the central female role in Terre nce Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones . For her Parlance debut, Angel Blue and pianist Bryan Wagorn will perform a program cherished songs, opera arias, and spirituals. “Luminous soprano voice and unforced charisma.” — New York Times LEARN MORE SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2023 AT 4 PM “MEMORY BELIEVES” BRENTANO STRING QUARTET ANTIOCH CHAMBER CHOIR ”The Brentano String Quartet, by now well established in the international pantheon, offers performanc es both fiercely intelligent and expressively pristine." — The New Yorker “The Antioch Chamber Ensemble performed with clarity of tone and intonation so pure that you could hear the buzz of overtones… — New York Times The celebrated quartet and chamber choir will collaborate on an eclectic and moving program including Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, Beethoven’s Cavatina from his 13th string Quartet , a selection of favorite English Madrigals , and the World Premiere of Bruce Ado l phe’s Memory Believes (a requiem) , written in honor of the composer’s brother, artist Jonathan Adolphe. LEARN MORE SUNDAY, JANUARY 14, 2024 AT 4 PM GOLDMUND STRING QUARTET ​ Fast-rising stars of the string quartet firmament, the Munich-based Goldmund Quartet has garnered worldwide acclaim for their deep musicality and astounding ensemble precision. In recent seasons, they have won first prizes in international competitions in London, Germany, and Melbourne, Australia. Following their triumphant 2019 tour of Japan, the Nippon Music Foundation awarded them the use of Antonio Stradivari’s coveted set of string instruments once possessed by the legendary violinist Niccolò Paganini. For their Parlance debut, the Goldmund Quartet will perform masterpieces by Alexander Borodin, Anton Webern, and Robert Schumann. LEARN MORE “The Goldmund Quartet are a class act…they delivered a triumphant performance — Edi nburgh Music Review SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 AT 5 PM CANDLELIT MUSIC OF THE SPIRIT ANTONY MCGILL, CLARINET STELLA CHEN, VIOLIN NICHOLAS CANELLAKIS, VIOLIN MICHAEL STEPHEN BROWN, PIANO “Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.” — Ludwig van Beethoven ​ M usic has always been considered a direct pathway to the spirit. In this special candlelit event, four of today’s leading virtuosos will perform spiritually resonant works by Avro Pärt, Max Bruch, Maurice Ravel, Jesse Montgomery, and Olivier Messiaen’s 1941 masterpiece, Quartet for the End of Time. Composed an d premiered in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp, Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time is a work of overwhelming originality and power. He rose above his physical confinement to create a work of soaring spiritual transcendence. LEARN MORE “Music is an outburst of the soul.” — Frederick Delius “Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.” — Leonard Bernstein SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 2024 AT 4 PM GOO DE PLAY S BEET HOVEN RICHARD GOO DE, PIANO ​ Hailed for music-making of tremendous emotional power, depth and expressiveness, Richard Goode has been acknowledged worldwide as one of today’s premier interpreters of Be ethoven’s music. In his much-anticipated return to Parlance Chamber Concerts, he will perform late Beethoven masterpieces including Six Bagatelles from Op. 119, Sonata No. 30 in E, Op. 109, and Beethoven’s monumental “Diabelli Variations, ” Op. 120, one of the greatest sets of variations ever composed. LEARN MORE “It is virtually impossible to walk away from one of Mr. Goode’s recitals without the sense of having gained some new insight, subtle or otherwise, into the works he played or about pianism itself.” — The New York Times '‘Every time we hear him, he impresses us as better than we remembered, surprising us, surpassing our expectations and communicating perceptions that stay in the mind.” — Gramophone Magazine SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2024 AT 4 PM JORDI SAVALL, viola da gamba & conductor HESPÈRION XXI, Early Music Ensemble LE NUOVE MUSICHE: 1560 — 1660 THE BAROQUE REVOLUTION IN EUROPE ​ “The term ‘early-music superstar’ is surely an oxymoron, but Jordi Savall comes close to being one. Wherever he wishes to travel, an audience will follow. This early-music master’s fervent community of admirers is the result of both the consistently gorgeous playing of Hespèrion XXI — the ensemble he conducts and plays in — and Mr. Savall’s ceaseless pursuit of unfamiliar repertoire...glorious ensemble sound to make a listener truly feel like a time traveler" — New York Times ​ J ordi Savall and his legendary early-music ensemble, Hespèrion XXI , will explore 100 years of musical history in a fascinating concert of music by early Baroque masters including Andrea Falconiero, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Tobias Hume, Vincenzo Ruffo, and others. LEARN MORE SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2024 AT 4 PM MOTHERS DAY CONCERT CHEE-YUN, VIOLIN; ALESSIO BAX, PIANO LUCILLE CHUNG, PIANO BRAD GEMEINHARDT, HORN (PRINCIPAL, MET ORCHESTRA) “Alessio Bax is clearly among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public.” — Gramophone “Chung exudes grace and poise at the keyboard, directing all of her energy toward making the music speak clearly.” — Toronto Star PCC’s musical Mothers Day celebration will feature four tenderhearted works inspired by motherhood and children. This musical celebration of motherhood will feature tender-hearted favorites including: Dvořák’s “Songs My Mother Taught Me,” Schumann’s “Scenes from Childhood,” Ravel’s “Mother Goose Suite,” and Brahm s ’s stirring Trio for violin, horn, and piano ., composed in memory of his mother. “Chee-Yun was at once playful and passionate, her bow consistently precise even at NASCAR speed.” — Washington Post LEARN MORE SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2024 AT 4 PM MOZART’S DOUBLE CONCERTOS SETH MORRIS, FLUTE (PRINCIPAL, MET ORCHESTRA) MARIKO ANRAKU, HARP (ASSOC. PRINCIPAL, MET ORCHESTRA) OLIVER NEUBAUER, VIOLIN PAUL NEUBAUER, VIOLA with MEMBERS OF THE MET ORCHESTRA MICHAEL PARLOFF, CONDUCTOR Parlance Chamber Concerts’s 16th season will conclude with two of Mozart’s most joyous works, the Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299 and Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, K. 364 . Composed when Mozart was in his early 20s, these uniquely-scored double concertos show the young genius reveling in the unbounded imagination and budding profundity of his early maturity. The four charismatic soloists will be supported by fifteen members of the MET Orchestra, conducted by PCC’s Artistic Director, Michael Parloff. “Paul Neubauer is a master musician.” — New York Times “Oliver Neubauer was a captivating performer, fully bringing-out the shifting moods, wit, and lyricism of Mozart’s music.” — The Epoch Times “Mariko Anraku a masterful artist of intelligence and wit.” — New York Times “Seth Morris, who did some of his playing onstage in the Met’s new production of The Magic Flute, made a fine flutist and cast member, both.” — The New Criterion LEARN MORE ABOUT PARLANCE CHAMBER CONCERTS VIDEO INTRO TO PARLANCE CHAMBER CONCERTS Michael Parloff introduces the mission and history of PCC. Audience members share their experiences. LEARN MORE PCC: A VIDEO SAMPLER See short video clips from past seasons, featuring the Emerson Quartet, Sir James Galway Richard Goode, and others. MEET THE ARTISTS ABOUT THE SEASON 16 YEARS OF GREAT MUSIC MAKING

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, BWV 1051 November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Written in 1721 as a means of gaining favor from the Margrave of Brandenburg, Bach’s “Six concerts à plusieurs instruments” never garnered payment or even thanks for the composer. Yet they establish him today as the master of the concerto grosso style pioneered by Corelli. Brandenburg Concerto #6 is scored for string orchestra, but without violins; violas carry the upper melodic material. This lower tessitura makes the piece ideal for an arrangement for guitar quartet. Set in a fast-slow-fast structure, the piece showcases Bach’s peerless use of imitative writing. The first movement is drivingly propulsive, with the two top parts chasing each other in a canon at the 1/8th note. The middle movement is one of Bach’s stately and shimmering Adagios, while the final movement is one of Bach’s most joyous gigues, with a rondo theme recurring in a variety of guises. Return to Parlance Program Notes

ANTIOCH CHAMBER ENSEMBLE, CHOIR Widely regarded as one of the finest professional choral ensembles in the United States, The Antioch Chamber Ensemble is currently celebrating its 23rd season of exceptional music-making. Under the leadership of founding Artistic Director Joshua Copeland, and executive director Stephen Sands, the ensemble strives to present as diverse a program as possible of the world’s greatest choral literature, both sacred and secular, and has performed works ranging from Renaissance polyphony to contemporary masterpieces with a core group of ten to twelve of the New York metropolitan area’s finest singers. Antioch has been awarded first-place honors in the highly prestigious Tolosa International Choral Competition in Spain, establishing them among the top rank of professional choirs in the world. In recent seasons, Antioch has been called “stellar,” “flawless,” “an exceptional group,” and “a spectacular example of what a classical choir should sound like” by the national press. Of the ensemble’s début for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The New York Times wrote: “The Antioch Chamber Ensemble performed … with clarity of tone and intonation so pure that you could hear the buzz of overtones created by some of the close harmonies. The most daring of these often color the sighs and wordless exclamations that punctuate both spiritual and secular texts, and the Antioch singers gave each its expressive register: impassioned, weak-kneed, swooning.” Other past performance highlights include concerts for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, the American Choral Directors Association Eastern National Conference and the Festival des Choeurs Lauréats in France.